Maritime safety: seafarers, minimum training level

The Council's common position incorporates the essence of the amendments by the European Parliament. The Council also approved part of Parliament's opinion on deleting all rules on watches from the annexes to the directive. The Council also introduced a number of new provisions into the proposal for a directive: - replacing the term "maritime professions " by "seafarers"; - adding a reference to the question of using a common language; - making explicit reference to the STWC convention in the Annex to the directive; - deleting the articles referring to Directives 92/29/EEC and 89/391/EEC; - clarifying the obligations of the Member States as regards training and certification; - referring to Directives 89/48/EEC and 92/51/EEC in order to resolve the problem of the recognition of certificates issued by the Member States, irrespective of the certificate holder's nationality; - introducing a detailed procedure for the recognition of certificates issued in the Union by third countries; - introducing a procedure for adapting the directive to subsequent changes in the international codes applicable.�